When most people think of eavesdropping, wiretapping and espionage in the workplace, they think outsiders: economic spying conducted by countries, other businesses, freelance spies, etc.
Not so. Over the past 30+ years, working with businesses and government agencies of all types, here is what I have found... about 50% of these problems are internal: employee vs. employee, labor vs. management (and vice versa), employee vs. external auditors, rogue employees, undercover spy employees, etc..
The following news item provides an example of internal intrigue worthy of a textbook chapter. It is also another very good reason to inspect for covert bugs, voice recorders and wiretaps on a regular basis.WI - City of Pewaukee Police Chief Gary Bach alleged Wednesday that several officers in his department secretly recorded conversations with him as part of a conspiracy to get him fired...Bach's allegation came just days before he is to face a disciplinary hearing before the City of Pewaukee's Police and Fire Commission that could lead to his firing...Lt. John Kopatich, who testified Wednesday that he secretly recorded conversations with Bach...
Testimony elicited throughout the day showed that officers were so distrustful of Bach - and Bach of them - that they all secretly recorded each other.Kopatich told Davis that he recorded Bach on a number of occasions without Bach's knowledge beginning in 2005. Kopatich said he made the recordings because he wanted proof in case Bach told him to do something and then later denied it...Bach began recording other officers about the time an investigation was launched into his conduct after a female officer filed a complaint in December 2006 alleging that he used inappropriate language when referring to her, according to testimony.Capt. Dan Meister testified that Bach also instructed him in January 2007 to begin recording conversations with officers. The chief had a secret code that he used to make sure both had their recorders running, Meister testified. The chief would say, "I'm loaded. Make sure you're loaded," Meister testified. (more)Internal spying can inflict just as much damage and expense as external spying. Inspecting regularly is both smart and cost-effective. (Learn more about Eavesdropping Detection Audits)
Following India’s threat to shut down the Blackberry network in the country unless Research in Motion allows the government to snoop on Blackberry users made earlier this year, the country seems to have found a more pragmatic solution, and in a surprising move has publicly announced that they have finally managed to crack Blackberry’s encryption :“The government has decrypted the data on Research In Motion’s (RIM) BlackBerry networks. The department of telecommunication (DoT), Intelligence Bureau and security agency National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO) have done tests on service providers such as Bharti Airtel, BPL Mobile, Reliance Communications and Vodafone-Essar networks for interception of Internet messages from BlackBerry to non-BlackBerry devices.Initially, there were difficulties in cracking the same on Vodafone-Essar network but that has also been solved. This means that the e-mail messages sent on Internet through your BlackBerry sets would no longer be exclusive and government would be able to track them.” (more) (history)
"New Delhi, New Delhi"
Start spreadin' the news, RIM's leavin' today
Don't want no part of it, spy pork, spy pork
These Blackberry blues, are a freakin' dismay
Spy right through the very heart of it, New Delhi, New Delhi
If they can tap it here, They'll tap it anywhere
Fed up with you, New Delhi, New Delhi.
UK - A disgraced policeman set up a hidden video camera in the lavatory of his wife's physiotherapy practice and filmed female customers using the toilet.Former South Yorkshire Police officer Andrew James Maton, who was trained in covert surveillance techniques, hid the police camera in a tool bag on a shelf at Balance Physiotherapy Studios in Thames Street, Rotherham. Sheffield Crown Court heard Maton, aged 43, sat in his car with a control plugged into the cigarette lighter and recorded three women using the toilet.Maton, who had served in the Army, worked in South Yorkshire Police's technical support unit and specialised in high risk work involving covert installation of recording gear.The father of five was caught after he left a VHS tape of the footage in a video player at work. (more)
KY - When the family of a Louisville grandmother suspected her caretaker was stealing money, they set up two hidden cameras in her home.It wasn't long, police said, before those cameras captured 56-year-old Marilyn Martindale committing crimes. Video released to WLKY shows Martindale allegedly taking the woman's purse out of view of the camera, then returning it several minutes later. Investigators said Martindale stole several hundred dollars out of the purse on that occasion. Another video shows Martindale rummaging through the woman's bedroom drawer, police said to steal more money the family had put there as bait. (more) (other caretakers caught on video)Side story...Burglar caught on video.
UK - Simon Cowell is warning gossip mongers 'enough is enough' after snagging an undercover reporter who planted a magnetic tracking bug underneath his blinging Bentley mobile.The TV judge says he won't tolerate anymore silly media games, complaining he is exhausted at being hounded by the press for the last seven years.Cowell's spokesman Max Clifford said his team have caught the journalist who planted the device and says the failed ploy is the final straw. (more)
China - "Microphone makers in the region, spurred on by a huge market demand, are up and ready to ramp up production of silicon microphones with microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) processing technology. Worldwide shipment is forecast to reach nearly 1.6 billion units in 2011..." (more)
So, just how small is a MEMS microphone?
Get a penny.
Look at Lincoln.
It would fit up his nose.
(1.35 x 1.35 x 0.3 mm)
(source)
FutureWatch - Micro Micro Mics combined with other MEM technology, micro micro power components and micro micro batteries to create a new generation of eavesdropping bugs. Sci-fi SpyDust becomes fact. (more)
Once you are outside of the USA, anything that you say can be eavesdropped on without a court order by US authorities... and authorities from every other country. This rarely-mentioned exception in the US eavesdropping law was recently reaffirmed in this terrorist bombing case."El-Hage contends that the District Court erred by (1) recognizing a foreign intelligenceexception to the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement, (2) concluding that the search of El-Hage’s home and surveillance of his telephone lines qualified for inclusion in that exception, and (3) resolving El-Hage’s motion on the basis of an ex parte review of classified materials, without affording El-Hage’s counsel access to those materials or holding a suppression hearing. Because we hold that the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of reasonableness—and not the Warrant Clause—governs extraterritorial searches of U.S. citizens and that the searches challenged on this appeal were reasonable, we find no error in the District Court’s denial of El-Hage’s suppression motion."
Daruma Dolls are those cute round little wish dolls without arms or legs. Heck, they don't even have eyes until you start wishing. Appropriately, Zen ...until now.
(cue Gershwin's "Someone to Watch Over Me")That 'someone' is stuffing these hollow,
"Holy moly my wish came true,"s
with spycams!!!Instant Japanese Santa?
Naughty? Nice?
Daruma sees all.
"Your wish is..."Let's go shopping... (video)
Canada - A budding coalition between New Democrats, the separatist Bloc Quebecois and Liberals is an exercise in nation building, NDP Leader Jack Layton told his caucus in a conference call covertly recorded by the government.Layton's national unity musings were secretly recorded Saturday by the Conservatives. They held the tape for a day and then had an official from the Prime Minister's Office deliver it to various media on Sunday. (more) (extortionography)
via WCBD-TV...
High-resolution hidden cameras sell for as little as a couple of hundred dollars and they come in all shapes and sizes.
The rapid spread of spy technology has caught the eye of privacy advocates. Michael Scott teaches technology and information privacy law at Southwestern Law School. “Technology develops so quickly that it takes a long time for the law to catch up,” he explained.
A quick YouTube search for spy cameras turns up what appear to be dozens of illegally shot hidden camera videos in fitting rooms, tanning salons and people’s homes. Of course, for every gadget, there’s usually a counter gadget. (and in the corporate world, counter-surveillance specialists.)
“There are a lot of people who are worried that someone else might be pointing a camera at them that shouldn’t be,” said Morris. Especially celebrities...
Kid Rock’s security team recently found a hidden camera in his dressing room in Minneapolis. (more) (video report)
UK - The House of Commons office of Damian Green, the Tories' immigration spokesman, is routinely swept for electronic bugging devices, along with other offices belonging to senior Conservatives, amid fears of covert monitoring, The Independent on Sunday has discovered.Anger surrounding the shadow immigration minister's arrest last week escalated dramatically last night over suspicions of a major bugging scandal inside the Palace of Westminster. (more)
NY - Officials with the Lincoln-Edison Charter School have proposed establishing a middle school with the theme of "Homeland Security." Students would receive instruction in emergency response, computer security and other issues related to "Homeland Security." ... (one course mentioned) ADVANCED INTEL 201 - Basic Wiretapping: What'd Daddy Say About That Lady? - Students will hone their wiretapping skills by listening in on their parents' phone calls. Students will learn how to properly interpret statements such as "Junior's acting kinda weird lately" and "What's that clicking noise?" (more)
UK - Music mogul Simon Cowell has vowed to step up his security after a bugging device was reportedly found under his car.The American Idol judge became suspicious his movements were being monitored after repeatedly spotting a mysterious biker at supposedly private meetings. And his fears were confirmed when a security sweep uncovered a hi-tech tracking device attached to the undercarriage of his $211,000 (GBP140,000) Bentley Continental. (more)
What is that other phone jack really connected to?
What is that USB connector on the UPS power strip really connected to?
UK - A disgraced policeman set up a hidden video camera in the lavatory of his wife's physiotherapy practice and filmed female customers using the toilet.
101 Spy Gadgets for the Evil Genius
equips you with complete plans, instructions, parts lists, and sources for devices that let you:
UK - Simon Cowell is warning gossip mongers 'enough is enough' after snagging an undercover reporter who planted a magnetic tracking bug underneath his blinging Bentley mobile.
Daruma Dolls are those cute round little wish dolls without arms or legs. Heck, they don't even have eyes until you start wishing. Appropriately, Zen ...until now.
A quick YouTube search for spy cameras turns up what appear to be dozens of illegally shot hidden camera videos in fitting rooms, tanning salons and people’s homes. Of course, for every gadget, there’s usually a counter gadget. (and in the corporate world, counter-surveillance specialists.)